Display apparatus.



G. M. WILEY.

DISPLAY APPARA Us.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 1914.

LQMAMQ. Patented Apr. 3, 1917. 7% jg; 2.

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GEORGE M. WILEY, OF LOS ANGELES, GALIFORNIK.

DISPLAY APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 3, 1917.

Application filed September 2, 1914. Serial No. 859,923.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE M. WILEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented a certain new and useful Display Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a device for forming upon a suitable background, images, pictures, signs, words, legends or in fact designs of any form or character having either an educational or artistic merit, coupled with interest in the process of display, or a coin mercial value that will stimulate attraction and at the same time advertise certain grades or classes of merehantable goods.

Objects of this invention are to provide a device in which an outline or design of a definite artistic or exhibitory nature is cast or formed upon a contrasting canvas or screen without the cause of the formation being or becoming known to spectators, and to provide a device of simple and economical construction for carrying out the objects enumerated. 1

Other'objects willappear from the subjoined specification in connection with the accompanying drawing, illustrating one form of apparatus for carrying out this in vention.

In the drawing,

Figure 1, is a front elevation.

Fig. 2, is an elevation showing the various parts broken to illustrate interior construction otherwise hidden.

Fig. 3, is a top plan view.

l 'g. 4, is a horizontal sectional elevation on lines 4:4, Fig. 2, and

Fig. 5, is a vertical sectional elevation on lines 5 -5, Fig. 2.

My invention consists of a means, preferably pneumatic, for agitating or dissemi-,

transparent front 2, as of glass. Within said inclosure and at a point removed a suitable distance from said front, is tightly stretched'a sheet of porous flexible material 3, such as cloth, of any color or variety of colors, and forming a proper contrasting background for the representations or figures to be depicted thereon by the flakes, as hereinafter set out. The said sheet 3, with the transparent front forms a compartment 4, in which is strewn or deposited a mass of loose flakes, shreds or chips 5, of any light material, which flakes may be plain, colored, or mixed, as desired, to give the most attractive effect. In the rear of said sheet 3, and preferably in contact therewith, may be disposed a strip 6, of any suitable material, such as hard rubber, wood or paper, provided with openings or perforations 7, forming an outline or figure. Such openings or perforations may consist of artistic shapes or figures, such as stars, animals, flowers, or other emblems representing those subjects desired for exhibition, and may be so arranged and distributed over the area of strip that they collectively form a pictorial group, while retaining, when separately exhibited, their individual artistic appearance and value. The strip 6, may be formed in a length greater than the height of the inclosure 1, in order that a number of signs or figures provided thereon may be exhibited in succession, and to accommodate a strip of such character, a slot 8, is pro vided in the top and bottom of the inclosure through which the strip may be drawn, either by hand, or, if the strip be of flexible material, by rollers, not shown, or in any other effective manner.

Where the strip 6, is of flexible material, suchas paper, I provide a backing or support 9, for the same, consisting in this instance of screening or any suitable reticulate fabric. Such strip, 6, with the rear wall 10, of the inclosure, forms a compartment 11, from which the air may be exhausted continuously, by any convenient known means, as an exhauster or suction fan 12. Each side of the inclosure is provided with a port 13, communicating with the compartment 4, and affording an inlet for the air. The size of these ports may be regulated by suitable slides 14:, to govern the amount of air passing through them,

and consequently the degree of agitation of the flakes.

The currents of air set up by the suction fan 12, whirling in various circulatory directions, due to the passage of the air through the openings or perforations 7 in the str p 6, causes adissemination of the flakes 5, 1n the compartment 4, of the inclosure. At such places or oints Where the air currents pass through he porous material and the perforations in the strip, an accumulationof the flakes will occur, and such accumulation will be of a design or outline exactly in accordance with the outlineor design formed in the strip. Those flakes that are not arrested by the air suction, are continuously Whirled about 1n a contmuous stream. In this manner, multlfarlous configurations J may be produced without it becoming known how or why the flakes collect at definite points only'to form a definite outhne or design. Obviously, when the air currents cease, the flakes will gravitate to the bottom of the compartment 4. r V I have shown and described as part of this invention, an inclosure having a glass front, through which the formation of the various signs, figures and. the like, may be viewed, and which forms with the background sheetj3, a compartment for confining the disseminationv of the flakes within a definite area.

. This glass front, however, may be omitted, if desired, and such omission is especially advantageous, where the display of signs,

forms and the like, is to take place on a large scale, asin the display window of a store. In such event, the agitation and dissemination of the flakes tobring them they be flat, square or round.

.What I claim, 7 is 1.,A support, a mass of flaked material I therein,a porous sheet, a perforatedstrip,

and means'tof agitate said mass of material 'andcause a portion of the mass to lodge and be held on said sheet at points where theperforations in said strip occur.

2. Ahsupport, a mass of flaked material "therein, a porous sheet, a strip in contact with said'sheet and having designs out out therefrom, and means to produce air currents to agltate sa1d mass and cause an accumulation of particles of said material at points on said porous sheet where the designs in said strip occur.

3. An inclosure, a porous sheet therein forming a compartment, a mass of flaked material in said compartment, a strip in contact with said sheet having figures out therefrom, and means to cause currents of air to pass through said out out portions in said strip to disseminate said mass and cause adherence of a portion of the flakes on said porous sheet at points where such cut out portions in said strip occur.

4. An inclosure, a suitable background, a mass of flaked material in said inclosure, pneumatic means to agitate said mass, and means for controlling said pneumatic means to cause a portion of said flaked material to lodge and be held on said background at definite points.

5. An inclosure, a porous background, a mass of flaked material in said inclosure, means to establish a circulation of air in front. of said background to agitate said mass of flaked material, and means to cause the air to pass through said background at definite points only to cause an accumulation of and hold a portion of the flakes at V such points during the passage of air therethrough.

6. An inclosure, a textile background, a mass of flaked material in the bottom of said inclosure and in front of said background, pneumatic means to agitate said mass, and means to control said means to cause an accumulation. of a portion of said flaked material on said background and at definite places thereon.

7 An inclosure having a transparent front. a sheet of porous material therein forming with said front a compartment, said inclosure provided with ports communicating with said compartment. a perforated non-porous strip behind and in contact with said porous sheet. means to suck air through said ports to agitate said mass of flaked material and cause an adherence of a portion of the same on said sheet and at points thereon where the perforations in said strip occur, and means to govern the quantity of air sucked through said ports.

8. An inclosure, a sheet of porous material therein. a mass of flaked material in said inclosure. a strip of non-porous flexible material in contact with said porous sheet. said strip having cut out portions, a support for said flexible strip, and means to agitate said mass and cause an adherence of a portion of said flaked material on'said sheet at such points where said cut-out portions occur.

9. An inclosure, a suitable background, a mass of flaked material in said inclosure. air-currents producing means to agitate said mass, means to control said air currents to cause a portion of said flaked material to lodge and be held on said background and at definite places thereon, and means to govern the quantity of air passing through said background.

10. An inclosure, a suitable background, a mass of light particles in said inclosure, means to draW air through said background to agitate said material, and means to govern the point of passage of air through said 10 background to cause a lodgment of some of such particles at such points only.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

GEORGE M. WILEY. Witnesses:

ANTON GLonTzNER, Jr., E. L. STILWELL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

